Category Archives: Creativity

The Influence of Influences

Posted on August 7, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

Inspiration may strike, but creativity accumulates. One is lightning in a bottle; the other is molasses—slow to pour, but sticky enough to catch the stray ephemera that lend rich flavor to whatever artistic projects you’ve got baking. Creativity is not … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Creative Practice in the Age of AI, Creativity, design, Music, Photography, Popular culture, Technology, Writing with AI, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Southpaw Violinist (Or, ChatGPT makes a mistake)

Posted on August 2, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

When I asked ChatGPT for an image to illustrate “The Pianist’s Hands,” the short story I wrote with ChatGPT and posted earlier this week, I thought it was gorgeous and (for a few minutes) an “absolutely, breathtakingly PERFECT!!!” image to … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Creativity, Music, Technology, Writing with AI | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

“The Pianist’s Hands” – A short story, plus my start-to-finish ChatGPT creative conversation

Posted on July 29, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

Alternative Title: How I Wrote “The Pianist’s Hands” (When I Thought I Was Just Dashing Something Off) 🙂 Back in February or March, I began drafting a short story with ChatGPT for my writing group—just an exercise, nothing too serious. … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Practice in the Age of AI, Creativity, writing exercises, Writing with AI, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

“Hello World!” – Creative Practice in the Age of AI

Posted on July 22, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

I mentioned a new project last week that I’ve been working on for the past month but wanted to run past my writing group before launching. Here it is! This is the first post in a new series reflecting on … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer), writing exercises, Writing with AI, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

“The Blind Pig” – A short story, plus my start-to-finish creative conversation with ChatGPT

Posted on May 30, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

I want to try something new today, both in terms of content and in terms of blog format. This is an experiment, and I’m not sure my WordPress skills are up to it. Here goes, and let’s just see if … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, writing exercises, Writing with AI, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Only murders . . . and criminal negligence?

Posted on May 23, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

A stairwell on campus is closed for painting, and when I noticed the yellow “CAUTION” tape blocking off the doorway, I suddenly thought about Season 3 of “Only Murders in the Building.” Season 3, you may remember, is the storyline … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and reading, Creativity, Popular culture, Television, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Happy (slightly belated) birthday, Bob Mackie!

Posted on March 26, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

My daughter and I were talking about famed costume designer Bob Mackie yesterday and realized that not only is he still alive but he just had a birthday earlier this week (March 24). I thought he must be close to … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Creativity, design, History, Media studies, Movies and film, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Writing exercise – “Common Comrades” (a horror poem)

Posted on March 21, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

This poem was a response to a writing-exercise prompt for my writing group. My original plan was to submit to literary journals with hopes of publishing. I haven’t done that sort of thing in many, many years and would like … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Creativity, Milwaukee, Photography, poetry, writing exercises, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Writing exercise – “The Cat in the Rain” (a sinister prologue with ChatGPT assists)

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

This is a long post today, but I’m sharing the entire ChatGPT “chat” from a recent writing group exercise to show my process of completing a finished piece from the “assignment” through the end. If you’re curious enough to stick … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, generative AI, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer), writing exercises, Writing with AI, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Oh, the irony!

Posted on February 19, 2025 by Katherine Wikoff

Because many of the courses I teach in the User Experience (UX) program at Milwaukee School of Engineering are subjects that didn’t even really exist 40 years ago and are still growing and developing domain parameters by the day (e.g., … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Digital society, Technology, UX (user experience) | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments